German exports & industrial orders jump in June

This comes hot on the heels of the positive economic data from the US late last week and is yet another indication that Europe may soon start emerging from its downturn.

German exports rose by a surprising 7% in June. This was the largest single month rise since 2006 and is really positive news for the European electronics sector which is heavily dependent on the health of the German manufacturing base.

New orders from the industrial sector in Germany are also up by 4.5%.

There was a ray of light in the distribution sector last week with data indicating that while both billings and bookings continued to fall in Q2 the net effect was an improvement in the book-to-bill ratio which moved to close to unity.

There are also more optimistic comments coming from other parts of Europe with a chance that Germany may yet emerge from recession before the US and UK.

This is a prospect which seemed unlikely just a couple of months back.

But before we get too carried a way with all this summer sunshine, remember the cricket score and also the fact that Germany's GDP in Q2 is still likely to be down on the previous quarter.

But the more encouraging industrial data probably means the rate of GDP contraction has slowed signifcantly.